The Day of Hungarian Poetry, celebrated annually on 11 April since 1964, honours the nation’s rich literary heritage and the enduring contributions of its poets, both past and present. From public transport recitations to literary gatherings, this vibrant celebration unites Hungarians in a shared appreciation for the power of language and the timeless themes of human experience captured in poetry.
Celebrate the Day of Hungarian Poetry by reading the English translation of poems written by some of the greatest Hungarian poets, Attila József, Miklós Radnóti, Mihály Vörösmarty, Endre Ady, and Dániel Berzsenyi!
Hungarians celebrate the National Poetry Day on 11 April; the birthday of the notable poet, Attila József.
‘In Hungary, unique master narratives have emerged over the centuries that live with us to this day. We can run into them everywhere in the most diverse segments of life: in culture, in education, even in politics. What exactly does the term master narrative mean and why is it so crucial to our lives and identities? What are the defining Hungarian master narratives?’
Across the country and beyond Hungary’s borders, the day is observed through a wide variety of cultural programmes. In Budapest, the National Archives opens its doors to visitors today, showcasing treasures such as the first edition of Kölcsey’s poetry collection, which includes the ‘Himnusz’.
George Szirtes, a Hungarian-born British poet, has been awarded the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry by King Charles III. The prestigious honour, established in 1933, recognizes his profound contributions to contemporary poetry and his exploration of global themes.
‘For István Käfer, one of the elements that has historically united both Slovakia and Hungary is, surprisingly, the language. Bálint Balassi, for instance, a crucial figure in Hungarian renaissance poetry, wrote his works in Hungarian, but he knew Slovak very well, which greatly influenced his thinking and language use. Cardinal Péter Pázmány also had a significant influence on the development of the Slovak language, by not only allowing, but encouraging its use in Catholic prayers.’
‘The importance of the Orthodox rite of St Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of the 2,300-metre Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa, also known as Horeb) in the Sinai Peninsula grew only after the loss of Jerusalem in 1187 and the fall of the Latin states in the Holy Land in 1291…It is the oldest monastery in the world to have survived in this way, where, among other things, the oldest 4th-century Greek-language manuscript of the Bible, the Codex Siniaticus, has also been preserved.’
The online conference presenting the varied and numerous activities of the organizations of the Hungarian American community in North California was held on 25 October, following up on the first part of the event that took place on 27 September.
Protestants played an irreplaceable role in the formation of Hungarian literary language, as well as in the renewal of the language. It is no coincidence that Ferenc Kölcsey, who wrote the Hungarian National Anthem in 1823, was a student at the Reformed College in Debrecen for many years, just as it is no accident that it was in the same Debrecen, known as the Calvinist Rome, that the Hungarian National Assembly—headed by Lajos Kossuth, who hailed from a Lutheran small noble family—proclaimed the dethronement of the House of Habsburg on 14 April 1849.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
